Adverb - Off and out
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bhaisahab
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The second one is not natural English, it would be better as "He is out visiting Peter".
What do you think the difference would be between that and your first sentence?
TheParser
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Tom: Can you help me now?
Mona: Sorry! Don't have time.
Tom: Why not?
Mona: I'm off to visit Peter. ( = I'm leaving now.)
***
Joe: Is Ruth here?
Alice: No.
Joe: Where is she?
Alice: Oh, she's out visiting Peter. (She is not here because she is at Peter's home right now.)
rajan
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I got the point. You explanation forced me to ask one more question :
Does off mean - "about to leave"
and out mean - " being out"
Does off mean - "about to leave"
and out mean - " being out"
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rajan
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I was reading a grammar book in which it was written that certain adverbs takes infinitive, Out and Off is one of them. Thus I wrote "out to visit".
TheParser
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(1) We non-teachers are not allowed to give answers unless we are pretty (almost)
sure that we are correct. So I shall not answer your question, for I am not confident
enough to do so. Let's wait for a teacher's answer.
(2) All I can is to give some more examples:
(a) Where's the boss? Oh, he's out to lunch. ( = He's having lunch)
(b) It's 5 p.m. and Friday. Well, I'm off for the weekend now. (= absent for two days)
(c) Mona is so excited. The latest fall fashions are now out. (available to be seen and bought.)
(d) At the horse races, the announcer tells the people: And they're off! [The horses
have just started to race.]
TheParser
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(1) Again, we will have to wait for a teacher to answer you.
(2) I checked my dictionaries, and it seems that some dictionaries do not feel that
"out" is an adverb in "He is out visiting Peter." Some dictionaries feel that it is better
defined as an adjective that means "not at home/work."
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